Machine for making felt boots



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

e L. RUEL. MACHINE FOR MAKING FELT BOOTS.

No. 308,282. Patented Nov. 18, 1884.

Wifnesses 1] van 2 02 N. PETERS. Photo Lillwgmphur. Wmhingtolx n. c.

, L. RUEL;

MACHINE FOR MAKING FELT BOOTS.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet- 2.

Pate ed N v. 18, 1884.

UNrrEn rates PATENT Osman.

LAURENT RUEL, OF HERRIMAC, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR MAKING FELT BOOTS.

SPECEFECATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 308,282, dated November 18, 1884.

Application filed September 12, 1884. (N0 model.) Patented in Canada June 14, 188-1, No. 19,559.

To (ZZZ whom, it 11mg concern.-

Be it known that I, LAURENT RUEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Merrimac, in the county of Essex and State of Massach usetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Making Felt Boots; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention is embodied in a machine for steaming and lasting or molding felt boots, and the construction and operation of which will be hereinafter fully described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a geometrical front elevation of a machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is aright side elevation; Fig. 3, a left side elevation. Fig. 4 is a plan view, and Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of the treeing and lasting mechanism.

Like letters designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, A represents the frame of the machine, provided 'with the top a.

B is a steaming-vat, in which the stocks or partly-formed boots are softened by steam before being stretched and molded into proper shape as finished boots, and to suit this purpose the vat is provided with two bottoms, (2, between which steam is admitted, the upper bottomhaving numerous perforations through which the steam ascends to saturate the felt stocks in the body of the Vat.

Attached to the frame A, and convenient to the vat B, is a device for stretching laterally the leg portions of the boots, consisting mainly of the jaws c c. The jaw c is fixed rigidly upright, while the jaw c is pivoted at its lower end to the frame. Its upper end is held against the upper end of the jaw c by the spring d, and is moved back from it, when desired, by the eccentric 6 being rotated by the lever f.

O is a hollow cylinder projecting up through the top a, and supported by the base D,which rests 011 the frame A. Into this cylinder, through asteam-tight packing at g in itslower end, a pipe, E, works similarly to a pistonrod. On that end of the pipe E which is withthey are hinged to a rod, j, which passes down.

through a steam-tight packing in the lower end of the pipe E, and thence through a slit in the floor of thebuilding or the machine. That part of the rod which passes through the floor is made broad and flat, by which the rod is kept from turning.

\Vhen the treepieces are carried above the cylinder, the upper shoulders of this broad part of the rod will have raised the foot-lever G, which, when depressed by the operator, draws down the rod j, and with it the arms of the togglejoint t, thereby spreading apart the tree-pieces F F. The piston-head and the tree pieces are raised in the cylinder by means of a rack, 70, fixed on the pipe E, and into which a pinion, Z, works. On the same shaft on which the pinion Z is fixed are also attached the ratchet-wheel m, into which the pawl it engages to prevent backward motion, and the pulley H, which is connected by the belt 0 with the driving-power. The belt 0 is put on sufficiently loose that it will not operate the machine, except pressed upon by the tightener I, which is held up by the springp, except when depressed by the operator bearing on the footlever g, which is connected with the tightener by the connecting-rod r, for the purpose of raising the tree-pieces out of the cylinder. XVhen they have reached the proper height, the pressure is taken off the lever q,when the spring 1) will immediately lift the tightener, and the piston and tree-pieces would at once descend into the cylinder; but they are prevented from doing so by the pawl 12 holding the ratchet m. In a groovein the rear side of the tree-piece F is dovetailed the heeler J, which may be moved freely up and down in said groove. When the tree-pieces are up and extended'apart, thelower end of the heeler will be immediately over the lifting-rod K, which is moved up and down in suitable guides on the outside of the cylinder 0 by the levers L and M, which are connected together and fulcrumed in any approved manner, and the latter of which projects from the front of the machine convenient to be operated by the foot of the workman. sis a steam-pipe leading from any convenient source of supply, and branching off into the steaming-vat in one direction and into the steam-cylinder in the other direction, for the purpose hereinafter specified. t t are the valve-handles by which steam is turned on or ofi when required. N is a last, upon which the floor part of the boot is formed. It is placed on the upper end of the tree-piece F, the toe pointing upward, and may afterward be turned forward, so as to give the proper direction to the foot of the boot.

The operation of this machine may be described as follows: The felt stock to which this machine is intended to give the proper boot shape is simply a small sack, the toe end being closed. When this stock has been sufficiently softened by the steam in the vat B, it is drawn over the jaws c c, by which it may be stretched to any desired extent by turning the eccentric e, as above described. It is then removed, and the tree-pieces F F and piston h being lowered in the cylinder 0 to their full extent, its open end is drawn over the head of the cylinder, 011 which it is firmly held by the clamps a a, which slide in suitable ways on the top a, and are pressed forward against the cylinder by the levered eccentrics c c and backward by the springs 10 to, which may be fixed in any manner to the tabletop a. Steam is admitted to the cylinder, from which it also fills the stock on the tree-pieces, keeping them soft and moist. The power is thenapplied by bearing down the foot-lever q. The working of the pinion Z in the rack causes the treepieces to be shoved up into the felt stock until it is sufiiciently stretched endwise. It will then he found that the shoulders of the broad part of the rod j have raised the foot-lever G, which, when depressed by the foot of the operator, draws down the toggle-joint formed by the arms 1' i, and thereby moves the tree-pieces F and F apart, thereby stretching the felt stock laterally. The toe of the last, which has hitherto pointed upward, is now turned down forward. The heel portion of the boot receives its proper angular shape from the heeler J, which is moved upward into the stock by pressing down the lever M. After remaining a sufficient length of time in this position the foot-lever G is allowed to rise and the treepieces to close together. The clamps u are then withdrawn, and the finished boot may be removed from the machine.

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a felt-boot machine, the vat B, having the two bottoms b, the upper one being perforated, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a felt-boot machine, thejaws c 0', spring d, eccentric e, and lever f, substantially as described.

3. The cylinder 0, placed as shown, and the pipe E,working in said cylinder, carrying the piston h and rack 75, substantially as shown and described.

4. The tree-pieces F and F, connected by the arms i to the rodj in such a manner that the opposite arms, 1', form a toggle-joint to be operated upon by the rod j for moving the tree-pieces F F together or apart, substan tially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a felt-boot machine, the rodj, working in the pipe E, and having its lower part widened where it passes through a slit in the floor ofthe machine or the building, so as thereby to prevent its turning, and operated upon by the foot-lever G, substantially as shown and described.

6. The arrangement and combination of the pulley H with the rack k, pinion b, ratchetwhcel m, and pawl n, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

7. In a felt-boot machine, the combination of the tree-piece F, having the heeler J sliding therein, with the lifting-rod K and the levers L and M, for operating the same, substantially as herein shown and described.

8. In a felt-boot machine, the combination of the cylinder 0 with the clamps u, placed as shown, and movable by the level-ed eccentrics o, for the purpose herein specified.

9. In a felt-boot machine, the steam-pipe s, branching into the steaming-vat B, and the cylinder C, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

Signed at Merrimac this 27th day of June, 1884.

LAURENT RUEL.

In presence of- H. P. CUMMINGS, R. R. SORENSON. 

